debralouden

Elk in the fog

a bull elk in the prairie grass on a foggy morning.

a bull elk in the prairie grass on a foggy morning.
Read less

SONY DSLR-A900

settings

Aperture f/10 ISO 640 Shutter 1/250 Focal Length 2000/10

upload_date

Dec, 2017

Views

Likes

Awards

Top Shot Award

Top Choice

Outstanding Creativity

Superb Composition

Absolute Masterpiece

Peer Award

Magnificent Capture

Behind The Lens

Location

This photo was taken at Maxwell Wildlife Refuge near Canton, KS, USA.

Time

It was a gloomy, cloudy, foggy day. This photo was taken not long before sunset on a cool evening in November.

Lighting

This is all just whatever light there was at the time before dark. No flash, etc was used.

Equipment

Sony alpha 900 camera and a fairly long lens.

Inspiration

We hadn't seen a lot of wildlife yet that day and we came up over the hill and there he was, a little ways off from a herd of elk all by himself. My mother always loved seeing the wildlife and she was with me this day. We had taken her out of the nursing home for this short trip to see the animals one last time. She loved seeing the elk that day. I had to take a bunch of pictures for her to remember this trip.

Editing

Yes, I use Lightroom for 99% of my post processing. This day I especially needed it because there was so little light naturally. A few tweaks with color and curves is typically what I like to use.

In my camera bag

I try to always have a 70-200 mm lens, a wide angle lens and a 50mm lens in my bag. And you can never have too many memory cards or batteries! I know this will sound silly, but I always keep a small flashlight and toilet paper in my bag too because when you are out at some of these parks when they typically don't have many tourists, a lot of times the outhouse is also not stocked!

Feedback

Take your time to get the shot right. I prefer to get the shot from a little too far away and crop it than to get to close to a wild animal and upset them. You can get better, more natural shots this way too. Then I slowly get a little closer a little at a time. If the animal runs off, then at least you got it from further back than you would have liked.

See more amazing photos, follow debralouden

debralouden

debralouden

Elk in the fog

a bull elk in the prairie grass on a foggy morning.

Behind The Lens

See more amazing photos, follow debralouden

Share photos. Enter contests to win great prizes. Earn coins, get amazing rewards. Join for free.

Share photos. Enter contests to win great prizes.
Earn coins, get amazing rewards. Join for free.